What To Do After The Crash

The time minutes, hours, days and weeks following an accident of any type can be perhaps the most traumatic part of mistreatment due to negligence. Often times, the actual infliction of injury, being hit by a negligent driver, for example, is a momentary and fleeting incident. It’s often the time that follows that is the most crucial in terms of both recovering from the injury and ensuring that you do all you can to obtain the justice you deserve. In this blog, we’re going to look at the typical auto accident and focus on what to do afterward in order to increase the likelihood that you successfully pursue justice in your case.

What Should You Do Immediate After the Accident

From the moment just after the accident, there are things you can—and should—be doing to protect yourself from being further victimized. First—and this may be an obvious one—call the police. They won’t be there to arrest anyone (unless the negligent driver has committed a crime), but more importantly they’ll be there to officially document what happened in the car crash. If it isn’t made official, who is to say it happened one way or another? If the crash isn’t documented by the police, you’re going to run into a complicated game of he said, she said, and that’s going to cause a multitude of problems from the get-go.

Second, as part of getting official documentation, don’t move anything at the scene of the accident. Stay with you car in the position in which it was when it was struck. If it was in the middle of the highway and you are asked to move it to the shoulder, do so, but don’t drive away and get a cup of coffee as you wait for the police or anything like that. Also, when the police question you about the accident, tell the truth. If they ask you whether you are in any pain, don’t lie, but if you aren’t experiencing anything at that particular second do not say you’re entirely fine. Often times, it wakes weeks or even months for back and neck injuries to actually surface following an auto accident. If you tell the police officer that you’re perfectly fine, that may come back to bite you. You might not know you’re fine because, as aforementioned, you may very well have sustained an injury that has yet to surface—its best to be cautious in giving a statement on your physical well-being than definite and thus limiting.

Following the accident, in the weeks going forward, keep records of everything related to the fall-out. If you need to have your car replaced, keep records of it. If you need to take other modes of transportation because your car is damaged, keep records. If you need to purchase medication to deal with pain, keep records. If you go to medical appointments, keep records. Keep records of everything—these records will be used to show how much of a negative impact the accident has had on your life. It will outline the money, energy and time you’ve been forced to spend in an effort to recuperate from an accident that was not your fault.

In addition to keeping records, keep a journal. Write down how your days have changed since your accident. Is it harder to wake up, go to the bathroom, make dinner, etc.? Write these things down as they happen.

Finally, because every case is different, possibly the most important decision you can make in ensuring that you are successful in seeking justice is hiring an experienced personal injury lawyer.

Thus, if you or anyone you know has a personal injury case before them, please reach out to us for a free consultation by calling 561-266-9191 or emailing daronberg@build.simple.biz.

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